Para-RT13: Interview with Kinsey Holley

Amber I. from Awesomesauce Book Club and I have been stalking paranormal authors that will be attending the RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City on May 1-5. We’ll both be there in all of our book nerd glory so we decided to do a bloggy event to get psyched up even more for the convention!

Introduce yourself to our readers:

[box]Hi! I’m Kinsey – I live in Houston and in my daytime, real life job I’m a law librarian. (I’ve worked in the legal field for over 20 years and I’ve never written a legal romance. This is not a coincidence.) [/box]
[box]I have one child, three and a half dogs, and a husband who complains a lot.
I hang out way too much on Twitter, and I’m a member of the Nine Naughty Novelists.[/box]
[box]I write werewolf smut, and right now I’m working on a contemporary (and even smuttier) romance.[/box]

Tell us a little about your books?

[box]My new favorite word — which I think I made up — is smirth: smut + mirth. My 3 (so far) Werewolves in Love books contain a lot of hot sex and some laughs. I expect the contemporary I’m working on (starring the guitarist of a legendary rock band and a chick who’s been a professional fiddle player since she was 15) to contain a lot of both.[/box]
[box]At least, it’s supposed to be hot, and it’s supposed to be funny. That’s why I have beta readers – to make sure readers laugh where they’re supposed to (i.e., not at the sex scenes) and that the sex scenes are hot, not icky or weird or silly. You’d be surprised how easy it is to write an icky, weird or silly sex scene without realizing it.
So far I’ve published 3 books, all with Samhain: Kiss and Kin, Yours Mine and Howls, and Ready to Run. They’re all set in the same universe but don’t need to be read in order. KnK and RtR are novellas, while YMAH is a novel.[/box]

Is this your first RT convention?

[box]No, this is my third.[/box]

What are you most looking forward to at RT?

[box]Seeing my fellow Naughty Novelists and my other buddies like Vivian Arend, Crista McHugh, Eden Bradley, RG Alexander…have I name dropped enough? Also hanging out in the hotel bar with the Aussie writers.
And meeting readers I’ve never met before because that’s also a lot of fun. Long LONG before I was a romance writer, I was a romance reader. So I love talking books with people.[/box]

If you’ve been to one before any tips for us newbies?

[box]Pace yourself. You can’t get to every panel or every party. Try to take a nap in the afternoon (depending on your age, I guess. I need naps more than the 20 somethings.) [/box]
[box]Also – the Saturday (print) book signing event is HUGE, huger than you expect. Seriously, make a list of the authors you really want to talk to & hit them first – you will be exhausted.[/box]
[box]Oh – and if you work, it’s not a bad idea to take an extra day off (after you get home) to rest. Like, I always go home on Sunday but I take off the following Monday. Because I’m exhausted and my voice is gone. (Seriously. On the plane home from RT 2011, I was too tired to even read so I decided to watch TV, and I was thrilled to find that I could get some episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – I hadn’t seen one in years. The very first episode that came on was “Hush” — that’s the episode where Willow first met Tara. And I BURST INTO TEARS. The flight attendant was all, “Ma’am? Are you okay?” And I was all, “(sniff) Yes! I’m just very tired! (sniff choke cough)”[/box]

Where can we find you at RT? Are you on any panels, going to any parties, etc.

[box]Well, if you look for me in the bar, you probably won’t be disappointed.[/box]
[box]I don’t think I’m on any panels this year BUT, once again, the Nine Naughty Novelists and the Smutketeers will be doing our Cover Model Karaoke party – singing with hot guys! There will be prizes. And dancing!
(If I were a good Naughty Novelist I would know the day and time, but I’m bad – Skylar and Eden handle all that. But I’m sure it’s listed on the RT Convention page and it will be in your schedule when you get there.)
I intend to hit Ellora Cave’s Disco Party, in costume, on Wednesday night. I know I’ll attend others, but I’m not sure how many I’ll dress up for. It really is a PITA to pack costumes for 3 or 4 different events, and I’m a lazy packer.[/box]

If we see you at the bar what drink will be in your hand?

[box]Either white wine or beer.[/box]

Since this event is for paranormal authors, can you tell us more about the paranormal in your book(s)?

[box]My books feature werewolves and other shifters, and fae — the fae and the shifters are separate species from humans, although we all share a common ancestor way, way back there on the evolutionary tree.[/box]
[box]The fae and the shifters have been “out” since shortly after WWII. (I’ve got an entire evolutionary history for them, and a whole backstory to the post-WWII coming out events. I will spare you.)[/box]
[box]In the US and a lot of other countries – though certainly not all – shifters are very well integrated into human society. There are no female werewolves, and it’s believed that there are no female shifters of any other type, either. So every werewolf and every shifter comes from a human mother and has female relatives – which is why, when they came out 60 or 70 years ago, it didn’t freak people out quite as much as it could have – because lots and lots of people discovered they were related to shifters.[/box]
[box]The fae – which includes dwarfs, pixies, brownies, dryads, everything up to and including “High Fae” — those are the tall, pretty Legolas-looking guys known as elves in mythology — don’t mix in human society quite as much. [/box]
[box]There are also mythological gods hanging around on the edges but I won’t bore you with all that right now.[/box]

[box]Alas, I have no new book lined up. Last one came out in August of 2011. 2012 was a terrible year for me writing wise – I just couldn’t seem to settle on one book and finish it. So far 2013 is better – the rock star book is really humming along. But I haven’t shown it to anyone yet and I’m afraid maybe it’s not as great as I think it is.[/box]

What inspired you to write in the paranormal genre?

[box]I’ve read the genre for years. And whenever I’d read a werewolf book I didn’t like, I’d sit there thinking “Well, _____ is stupid – if ____ does that, then why did he do _____”? And “Why are all werewolves hair-trigger psychos? How can the world not know that werewolves exist when they’re always going nuts and ripping people to pieces?” and “OMG! He did not just do that!!”[/box]
[box]I’d been saying for twenty years that I was going to write a romance. So I figured – if I know so much about werewolves, maybe I should write my own.[/box]

Any plans in the city while you’re there?

[box]My buddy Moriah Jovan (whom i’ve never met in person) lives in KC and is hosting a bar b que which I hope to get to.[/box]

How are you traveling to RT? Where are you coming from? Any interesting hiccups?

[box]Flying. I live in a huge city so I can get direct flights to just about anywhere.[/box]

What kind of opportunities are there for you at RT?

[box]I love meeting people. I’m not what you’d call shy, nor do I have trouble making small talk. I think RT presents great promo opportunities for authors, but you have to be Zen about it. In other words, you don’t go there expecting to sell x number of books or meeting X number of new readers – you go to have fun, meet people, share your love of the genre, and if in so doing you pick up new readers, that’s great. That’s kind of how I view Twitter and FB for marketing, as well. If you’re just out there going “Here’s my book!” “Buy my book!” people will unfollow you in a hurry, because that’s boring and rude. If you’re a person first, and an author second, you’re much more likely to make connections with readers.[/box]

What authors do you hope have tables beside you at the Giant Book Fair?

[box]I’m not appearing at the GBF because I only have 1 print book. So I always attend as a fan. I run around visiting my friends and squeeing over authors I love and have never met. (I squeed all over Harley Jane Kozak a couple years ago – she used to be on my favorite soap, waaaaaaay back in the 80s, and I’ll always love her.)[/box]

Who are you bunking with?

[box]PG Forte, one of my fellow Naughties. We’ve kind of got a routine now, and PG and I are usually roommates.[/box]

Favourite/least favourite convention experience?

[box]Not sure I could pick a favorite – RT 2011, in Los Angeles, was the first time most of us (the 9 Naughty Novelists) had ever met in person, though we’d been a group for a couple years by then, and we were thrilled and amazed that all of us were the same in person as we were online, and we laughed our butts off for five full days.[/box]
[box]Least favorite: I got a little cocktailed one night at the LA convention – not smashed, just very happy, lots of dancing in bare feet – and I woke up the next day with these awful scratches on my calf and no idea where they came from. But I remembered the whole night, so I was mystified. I tweeted a picture of my scratches, asking “Hey! Anyone know what happened to Kinsey’s leg?” Then, when I got on the escalator, I realized – I’d been riding the escalator barefoot (and cocktailed) and it scratched me and I didn’t realize it.[/box]
[box]So, add that to my list of tips for RT newbies: don’t ride the escalators in bare feet. And if you’re a little cocktailed, take the elevator instead.[/box]

Is your RT experience all planned out or are you more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type person?

[box]I’m mostly fly by the seat of my pants when I get there, but I do attend the stuff the other Naughties want to do. I am so glad Skylar Kade will be there this year because she’s the world’s best cruise director. Tells us where we’re going, what time to be ready, etc. We really need that. Otherwise we’d just sit in the room and drink wine and talk all day.[/box]

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Author Bio

Kinsey Holley lives in Houston Texas, where a lot of people know about her Secret Romance Writer Identity. Hopefully those people don’t include her mother or the folks she goes to church with. She’s maried to the Hub, mommy to the Diva, and works part time as a law librarian (the firm doesn’t know about the Secret Romance Writer Identity, either).

She enjoys reading SF, UF, and romance, is addicted to pop culture and several television series, and dreams of moving to the mountains of Colorado, which she’d never really do because all her friends and family (they overlap a lot) are in Houston and she loves them and besides, she can’t imagine being more than an hour’s drive from a beach. Besides her Werewolves in Love series, she’s working on a Regency and a big glitzy contemporary that she hopes will evoke comparisons to the sexy melodramas of the 80s (Models! Rock stars! Monaco! Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Dexter Rowan! No, not her…)

On the surface, court reporter Lark Manning looks like the luckiest girl in the world, blessed with great friends and a wonderful family. Underneath, she harbors a hopelessly unrequited love for the sexy werewolf everyone thinks of as her cousin. Taran rarely notices her except to condescend or lecture. He’s treated her the same way since she was eight years old, and there’s no reason to think he’ll ever change.

Taran Lloyd, a detective in the Houston Police Department’s Shifters Investigations Unit (SHIU), lives for those rare moments he gets to spend around Lark, torturing himself with what he can’t have. Kin only by marriage, she thinks of him as her big brother. He couldn’t bear her pity—or her disgust—if she learned he wants her for his mate.

When weres from a rival pack attack her, Lark screams out the first name that comes to mind—Taran. Only this sexy alpha can keep her safe until they find out who wants her dead, and why. But keeping her safe means keeping her close. And the closer they get, the harder it gets for these not-really-cousins to honor their commitment to keep their paws off.[/tab] [tab]

Sometimes happily ever after is on the wrong side of death’s door.

Thirteen years ago, Ally Kendall died defending her young cousin from his werewolf stepfather.

She hasn’t been the same since.

Ally returned from the hereafter with strange new powers, burdened with the secret of why and how she survived. She managed to scrape her life together and raise her cousin, but now he needs a pack to guide him into adulthood. That means pulling up stakes yet again and heading for Colorado to find the only werewolf qualified for the job. A werewolf, she discovers, who tempts her to give up control in a thousand sinful ways.

Cade MacDougall, Alpha of an unrecognized pack, has a tragic history, a sizable ranch, and a daughter who thinks she’s a cat. Time to find a mate? Don’t make him laugh. Until Ally shows up with a smokin’ hot, preternaturally strong body that smells like mine, and introduces him to a nephew who holds the key to unraveling mysteries about Cade’s family—and himself.

But Ally’s holding something back. As Cade’s enemies gather, the cowboy and his secretive new mate must come clean about their mysterious pasts…or else all hope of protecting their newly formed family—and their future—will be lost.

Warning: A sexy, smartass alpha hero, a heroine who could kick his ass if she wanted, heart-pounding action, and some serious werewolf cowboy lovin’.[/tab] [tab]

Sometimes a girl’s gotta save herself.

Sara Hedges had planned to escape the backwater, bigoted town of Luxor, Texas on the wings of a college degree—not on the back of a Harley, riding for her life.

Just a couple months shy of loading up her Miata, however, betrayal bares its ugly fangs. Her scumbag uncle has sold her to a pack of werewolves willing to pay any price for her special bloodline and it looks like there’s no way out. She never expected the new-in-town, sex-on-a-stick loner to come riding to her rescue. Or to discover he’s a werewolf, too. A good one…with one too many secrets.

Bryan Keeton waited two months deep undercover for the chance to get his hands on one of the gangster Eurowolves wreaking havoc across the South. After calling in the FBI to blow the lid off Luxor, he’d planned to leave town before he did something he might regret—like get involved with the suspect’s niece.

But Sara makes him stupid. And now they’re on the run from the Feds, who aren’t interested in her innocence, and from the wolves who want her for their own personal squeaky toy…

Warning: This story includes an undercover alpha with a sexy Texan drawl, a heroine with a dangerous secret, a ring of wolves willing to pay just about anything to own her, and a small town that needs to learn a little something about tolerance.[/tab] [/tabcontent] [/tabs]

7 responses to “Para-RT13: Interview with Kinsey Holley”

Wonderful interview! You are a new to me author, but you write my favorite genre with my favorite type of shifter. 😉
I will definitely be checking out your books. I have not yet been to a convention, but I am going to try to make one this year. They sound like so much fun.
I have a silly question for you. I know that a lot of authors use pseudonyms for their names, so when speaking to each other, do you refer to each other with your author name or your legal name? I am just curious.
I hope you ladies have a fabulous time! Thank you for sharing.

Tina: You absolutely should try to make an RT convention – next year is in New Orleans and it’s going to be fabulous! (It’s at the Marriott on the edge of the Quarter.)

As to names – we call each other by our pen names. We all first met online, through our association with Samhain Publishing, so those were the first names we knew. Some of my fellow Naughties write under their own names, and several, like me, use a totally different name. But when I’m hanging out with Skylar, she is absolutely Skylar to me – I can go days w/o thinking about her real name. And when I book my reservation for RT – name tag, book signing, etc. – I use Kinsey.

All the people I see at RT each year call me Kinsey and it feels completely natural.

I think this means I have dual personality syndrome but I’ve decided it doesn’t bother me.

Lily: My daughter’s 11 right now, and she’s a bit of a prude – hates cursing and any talk of sex – she won’t even say the word “sex” in front of her daddy. And she attends an Episcopal school. If she’s still this prudish at 16 or 17 or whenever she figures out exactly what kind of grown-up books Mama writes, she’s gonna be appalled and probably mad. And I’ll try to explain that werewolf smut has paid for her excellent private school education but I’m not sure that will placate her….